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The Sims Online, a networked version of The Sims PC game, received a lot of buzz surrounding its launch. Unlike the PC game, where the sims basically function as virtual pets, online sims are ostensibly a virtual version of each visitor - in other words, avatars. Interestingly, online sims are still required to have the naps, food, and social interaction their offline prototypes do. For those who simply want to chat and hang out with other people online, this can be annoying. On the other hand, these tasks do offer endless fodder for small talk when meeting other sims.

The Sims Online has been heavily marketed to teens, and the majority of TSO residents seem to be in their teens and twenties. Although it incorporates standard conversational features of social chat environments, The Sims Online is still constricted by "gaming" rules and the requisite achievement of skills and money. The object of the game is to earn as many "simoleans" (TSO's in-world currency) as possible in order to furnish one's well appointed virtual home with beautifully rendered household objects. In fact, the world of The Sims Online is full of eye candy and part of the fun is seeing the creative ways property owners have decorated their virtual abodes.

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